The Tycoon Report

Five Great Books on Investing To Put on Your Christmas List!

I am sure I don't need to remind anyone that there are less than two weeks to go until Christmas. With the holidays approaching, do you find yourself trying to answer that tricky, but age old question, "What do you want for Christmas?"

Well, this Christmas, instead of the usual socks, scarf, or argyle sweater, why not ask for some really great books on investing? Most are less than $40 or $50, and are sold in all of the large bookstores, or on line at Amazon.com

With that in mind, I would like to recommend five books that you might want to ask for, with a brief explanation of each. All five are books from which I personally learned a great deal about stocks and investing, and I hope they will enhance your knowledge as well. The five books are:

1) John Murphy, "Technical Analysis of the Futures Markets". Fantastic book for learning all about Technical Analysis. The book covers how to read charts, indicators, patterns, and how to use them all in your trading. It's 550 pages long, so be prepared to do some intense reading on those cold winter nights!

2) Peter Lynch, "One Up On Wall Street". A classic now from 1989, in which Lynch, one of the top money managers of all time, explains his methods for finding winning stocks, and how you can use what you know about stores and products you use to do the same.

3) Norman Fosback, "Stock Market Logic". An older book, but very easy reading, and full of useful information on stock indicators, stock selection, money management, and seasonal market trends.

4) James P. O'Shaughnessy, "What Works on Wall Street". The author did statistical research to determine what does and what does not produce profits in the stock market. This book is a little dry, but it will really open your eyes about which fundamentals are and are not important to use when trying to select good stocks for long term investments.

5) William J. O'Neil, "How TO Make Money In Stocks". O'Neil is the founder and publisher of Investors Business Daily, In this book he teaches his well tested methods for finding stocks that consistently beat the overall market. O'Neil teaches a method he calls C-A-N-S-L-I-M which has been quite successful for producing solid returns.

So this is my suggested gift book list, and I invite other readers to suggest books they like as well. If you have read these five already, perhaps you may want to give them as gifts to someone else. Let's make this a Merry Christmas (and Happy Holidays), and make 2008 a year for real prosperity in the stock market!